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It was Cleveland's City Clerk and later Transit Commissioner, Peter Witt, forgotten as the inventor of the paper clip (historically, pieces of paper were held together with straight pins), whose name stuck to a particular often copied and widely distributed configuration of center door streetcar. The layout allowed passengers to enter at the front door and leave at the center, paying when they passed the conductor, who sat just ahead of the center door. Those who spent the journey in the front half of the car paid upon leaving, but those who moved to the rear half of the car paid as they rode along, with considerable time thus saved at stops.
The prototype was introduced on December 1, 1914, after having been built under Witt's direction in the old Lakeview Shops. An order was placed with G. C. Kuhlman Car Company for 130 cars to be delivered during 1915 and 1916. Although Cleveland's street railway, one of America's greatest, quickly adopted the front and center door Peter Witt car as its standard, the largest single group of cars was its famed center entrance car, of which 201 were built by Kuhlman in 1914-15. Seashore's No. 1227, of 1914, has many peculiar local features. The high-domed roof with its Scullin ventilator louvers (named for their inventor, Terrance Scullin, Cleveland Railway's Master Mechanic) and narrow high front destination sign are remembered by many as a Cleveland standard design. At 51 feet, No. 1227 is the longest city streetcar in the Seashore collection. This car is one of 36 sold to the Shaker Heights Rapid Transit System, a pioneer light rail system set up by the legendary Van Sweringen brothers, developers of the community, to provide quick access from its suburban location to downtown Cleveland. Altogether Car 1227 ran for 45 years until 1959, and after unsuccessful preservation efforts elsewhere, was acquired by Seashore in 1984.
History from Historic Cars: The National Collection at the Seashore Trolley Museum by Ben Minnich
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